In Rwanda, coffee isn’t seen just as an export crop anymore, it is slowly becoming one kind of serious stage for youth jobs and skills growth in higher value agribusiness. And yeah, since Rwanda is known worldwide for top quality coffee, a fresh wave of young entrepreneurs is quietly changing how young people plug into the sector.
One of those people is Muhorakeye Annet, the founder of Elite Cafe Training Center, which was started in 2022 in Niboye Sector, Kicukiro District. The center came up during a moment when there was still this real gap in professional coffee training, especially for young folks who wanted skills in barista work, coffee processing, and the whole value-added coffee business path.
Annet’s story started in customer service and hospitality. She would interact with coffee consumers often, and she noticed how coffee has this way of bringing folks together, plus improving the whole customer experience. That exposure then pushed her into wanting to understand the complete coffee value chain, like from the farm all the way to the cup.
She says back then, access to proper coffee training was narrow. Most sessions mainly covered preparation, but not the wider technical side, nor the business dimension. That missing piece is what motivated her to establish Elite Cafe Training Center as a sort of springboard, for youth to gain practical knowledge not only theory.
At the beginning, the initiative was running with tight means, basic gear and a tough situation of convincing people to trust an emerging niche. Later on, it widened its services. Now it includes professional barista training, coffee roasting and processing, catering for events and meetings, plus producing and selling packaged coffee, as well as natural juice-based beverages.
Their training method follows a “farm-to-cup” model, meaning trainees learn not only how to make coffee, but also, they get insight into the full coffee value chain. In the end, trainees walk away with wide-ranging skills that can support either employment or starting something on their own.
“The goal is for graduates to leave with the ability to work immediately and a clear understanding of what they are doing,” Annet says. She also adds that customer care, communication and professional ethics are treated as key parts, not optional extras.
Since it opened, Elite Cafe Training Center has trained close to 1,000 young people coming from different areas of Rwanda. Some graduates found work in hotels and cafés, while others went ahead and launched their own ventures, showing that coffee can be a real option for youth employment and enterprise development.
The initiative also gained momentum thanks to a Rwf 25 million YouthConnekt award, which helped it expand its equipment and training activities.
As agribusiness keeps being important in Rwanda’s economy, the model built by Elite Cafe Training Center shows how coffee can grow beyond farming into training, entrepreneurship, and youth empowerment.
Looking forward, the center plans to widen its reach, and keep equipping young people with skills and opportunities in the coffee industry, both within Rwanda and beyond.
Written By Jean Bernard MUKUNDENTE